Boys Club at Work!!!

Fall River Office of Economic Development Board of Directors :

The boys club hard at work for themselves Fall River's citizens !

City Attorney Steve Torres : A Profile of Self Importance

Steve Torres at a City Council Meeting

Separated at Birth : "Jackass" and "Donkey"

Crisis of Confidence

Well, ladies and gentlemen of Fall River,  it appears it has taken a mere 6 months for City Government to almost rid itself of all those involved in "The Great Lie" of the Correia Administration, the withholding of information about the $3.5 million deficit in the Sewer Enterprise Fund. Only Mr. Sullivan, head of Public Works and intimately involved with every aspect of Water and Sewer Enterprise Fund operations remains. I, for one, hope he stays put....at least until the tax rate for FY2011 is set!

In what most objective observers could recognize as a petulant and inexperienced "politics first" reaction to the recent news that the City Tax Collector Shannon Lyonnaise allowed $2 million in various tax and fee payments to sit on a clerk's desk for TWO MONTHS without being deposited, Mayor Flanagan fired both the Tax Collector and the City's Tax Assessor in a fit of pique. The Tax Assessor had previously been called on the carpet by the City Council for a very large number of controversial property assessments during the last property revaluation in the City.

Surely, in a community in dire need of every possible penny of additional self produced revenue, the loss of interest earnings is, in a word, inexcusable. The reasoning given by the Collector that staffing patterns within her office were insufficient to allow timely processing of all payments into the office just do not wash. She stated that her office was swamped by a surge of Motor Vehicle Excise (MVE) tax payments, water and sewer bill payments, and residential and personal property tax payments. She said she simply did not have enough staff to process the payments.

This is, of course, a ridiculous explanation. Every municipal Tax Collector in MA knows a few very basic facts. Not to know these facts means the person was never qualified to hold the Tax Collector's job. What else is new in Fall River!

Those basic facts are as follows:

     #1- By state statute, ALL monies, regardless of type (cash, check, wire transfer, money order, for example) MUST be deposited on the day they are collected. That's one day. Not two months.
  Admittedly, depending on peak periods and staffing patterns, especially after 30 years of Prop 2 1/2, clerical staff in service departments like the Tax Collectors Office have been reduced year after year. So one day has been stretched into  a three day maximum period for all practical purposes. Anything over three days indicates that a Tax Collector's office is simply incompetent, barring extreme circumstance.
  Most communities now have weathered  reduced staffs by utilizing bank LOCK BOX services where most payments are sent to a particular bank and deposited as they come into the bank, whether as mailed payments or by use of credit cards online, and are immediately processed and recorded on electronic medium and posted by the City or Town into tax receipts records, by account number, for ledger and reconciliation purposes. No reasonably sized community does not use a LOCK BOX service. It records deposits immediately, and more accurately, than human hands. And it's relatively cheap. For example, the Town of Brookline, with the same size annual operating budget as Fall River, and similar number of MVE bills and property parcels, spends only $20,000 per year for the service, and a few thousand more for a separate service to process MVE payments in the same way. $20,000! ( In terms of immediate interest earnings it practically pays for itself over the course of the fiscal year.) That's less than a full-time clerk's position, costs no benefits,works all year round, and never takes a vacation or sick time or files for workers comp. Century Bank is considered the best provider of such services. In a functional area like this, you really want to utilize a bank with extensive experience.

#2- Every Tax Collector in MA knows that the first MVE tax bills, the largest single MVE tax commitment by far ,  are received from the Registry of Motor Vehicles in March of each year. They are due thirty days after mailing. This year, because of the late approval of the FY 2010 tax rate to allow the City to satisfy DOR's requirements with regard to paying for the Sewer Enterprise Fund deficit, Property Tax bills went out late, and the City's taxpayers were allowed this additional 30 day period the send payments. Unfortunately, the Tax Collector, and apparently the Finance Director as well, did not think or plan for this extraordinary contingency. A simple knowledge of the dates when bills were due, of simple municipal collection procedures,  would have dictated the need for additional staff to timely process all payments from all sources, given Fall River's prehistoric insistence to maintain a hands-on, labor intensive method of depositing and recording tax and other payments. The Finance Department dropped the ball entirely. Both the Tax Collector AND the new Treasurer/Finance Director, Mr. Grab, should have adequately planned for all collections to be deposited at the end of each day they were delivered to the Collector's office.  Even with sole prior experience as a municipal accounting officer, Finance Director Mr. Grab has no excuse. He should have been aware of the timing of payment collections if for no other reason  than to chart actual cash receipts versus projected cash receipts by month, especially with the importance of FY2011 revenue estimates. As we all know, the very first step in planning a municipal budget is first to determine realistic estimated revenues. You cannot plan to spend more than you can prove to DOR you will bring in for the next twelve months. It is literally impossible to do that appropriately without keeping a month by month tracking of receipts by every source of revenue. I now believe the City's revenues being used to plan the FY 2011 operating budget are way off, which means that the proposed budget cannot be accurate at all.
  There are some very serious problems with controls over the City's cash and check payments. And as we all know, shoddy controls in these areas have been a much commented upon Fall River failing by DOR. They will not be pleased by what has transpired.

#3 - Without timely deposit of receipts and associated reconciliation of ledger accounts, the closing of a fiscal years financials becomes a long, drawn out and nightmarish procedure for not very talented Municipal Finance staffs, the kind that exist in Fall River. The job of the Collector does not end with depositing receipts. That's merely the beginning of the process, yet proper recording and tracking of receipts by account number and bill number establishes true financial control, from a Tax Collector's perspective.
  The danger in Fall River is that with no one in the City Auditor's position and no one in the City Collector or Tax Assessors Offices running things, how will the City's financial books for FY2010 be closed on a timely basis? How? It will not be without much greater added expense, probably by using the very expensive hourly rate of Hague and Sahady to accomplish much of the work that should routinely be performed by each department well in advance of June 30. We now know that work will not take place for quite some time, probably 3 months at best.

Mayor Flanagan's knee jerk reaction to fire admittedly very questionable employees came not primarily for poor performance, but, quite predictably based on his brief but voluminous track record so far, on popular voiced outcry from the voting public. In this instance, Flanagan's concern for looking good, as opposed to BEING good in  making sure things are running smoothly, is going to cost Fall River dearly. This was always the danger of electing as Mayor a person who has absolutely NO CLUE about public finance. I do. He cannot make the argument he does. And that's going to lead to forthcoming disaster for Fall River.

Sorry Will...you are lost now....and every tax payer will literally pay for it...and there's no way to avoid that .

Great job ROOKIE!

Nit Picking

Monkeys and apes are our closest  animal relatives.  And these simian relatives of all types and sizes tend to establish long standing communities designed for joint socialization and mutual protection. Unlike other animals, like cats, for example, simians spend many hours grooming not just themselves or their offspring, but the young of other members and older adults of the clan, often times according to rank as a display of respect. All of this activity is to insure the health and propagation of the community.

When I hear the same cast of local monkeys are involved with the development of property on Fourth Street for a bus terminal I have this mental picture of Ken Fiola picking lice off the head of Will Flanagan, and Atty. Frank doing likewise off the head of Ken Fiola in a demented daisy chain of lice, flea and lint picking euphoria.

 What, do the political powers in this City think so little of the Fall River electorate that they think whatever they do is not discerned by the majority of citizens? Is the state of the Fiscal Year 2011 operating budget so terrible that we must endure these type sideshows to take our attention away from our  cringe worthy financial situation and related poor school performance, which just became worse this week with the news that one of the better Assistant Superintendents in a while left Fall River for the lofty greener pastures of Central Falls , Rhode Island, the very same Central Falls that made national news when it laid off over 400 teachers for poor performance? It makes the mind boggle on how BAD things must be here to drive a person THERE!

Yet, here we go again! Some speculate that the reason for renewed emphasis on a bus terminal is to somehow obtain some measure of success for Ken Fiola of Fall River Office of Economic Development (FROED), a person whose track record of achievement as Executive Vice President of FROED is universally recognized as dubious, at best. In fact, it was Ken Fiola's problematic handling of the original attempt to site the bus terminal at the very same location as this new placement effort that had many screaming for his head on a platter. At issue was the loss of available federal monies because no environmental study was made of the location, with a fear of site cleanup being required because of a history of trucks being previously garaged there. To avoid loosing out on federal funding, new buses were purchased by the Southeast Regional Transit Authority (SRTA) instead.

 This was especially critical with the looming opening of the new Fall River courthouse just a mere 200 yards away from Fourth Street site and no additional parking spaces in the immediate area to meet the obvious resulting demand. Here again, there was a large public outcry against FROED in general, and Mr. Fiola, in particular. In fact, it is the commonly recognized operation of FROED and the Fall River Redevelopment Authority (RA), of which Mr. Fiola works as staff, and the apparent collusion of the Fall River Mayor's Office, that gives Fall River citizens the impression that things are  decided upon by the members of the FROED and RA's Board's and the Mayor, behind closed doors and by use of the telephone, to keep those pesky voters out of the loop.

 Things seem episodic and acute in nature, not planned and publicly discussed well prior to any action. One is left to wonder how many development decisions are being completed between the same influential and powerful monied interests in the City and region with the full cooperation of the same individuals involved in elective office, and in particular, the Mayor's Office or working at the Mayor's behest. The role of FROED and RA Board members are also of grave concern. It defies chance that most, if not all, of the dealings of FROED and the RA seem to be less than arms length transactions. It's of great concern to me and those in this City I know, and it should be of grave concern to you as well.

All of these situations come either directly or indirectly under the control of the Mayor's Office, through direct decision making enabled by City Charter or state law design or by appointment of board members. It is there that the most immediate improvement in a transparent and efficiently planned decision making process lies. But I see little to make me trust the current occupant in the Mayor's Office to make such a heroic change in the ways things are done in Fall River. On the contrary, with all the machinations surrounding the "Destination Casino", Will Flanigan has openly declared himself to be deeply ensconced in the dark side of Fall River politics, the politics of back room dealings, political self aggrandizing influence trading and concern for the narrow interests of self as opposed to the greater good of Fall River citizens.

The lice picking never ends. Ken Fiola, Mayor Flanigan and Senator Menard are marching ever forward to kneecap the proponents of the Bio-Tech Park ( pick, pick, pick) in favor of the Casino. Mayor Correia's former Corporation Counsel, Arthur Frank, now SRTA lawyer, assures everyone that the end of summer purchase date by FROED, Fiola and the Mayor for the new bus terminal site seems very likely (pick, pick, pick). This is a comment from a lawyer who worked for Mayor Correia, a mayor vilified by the new Mayor for having too many attorneys working for too much payroll expense, who himself now employs more lawyers, and spends more on legal expenses than the man he took to task while running for office. I don't call that irony, I call that a lawyers fantasy.


The grooming and picking going on at City Hall and related surroundings goes on at fever pitch. It sometimes reminds me of the simian exhibit at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. I mean the actual zoo, not he Congress of the U.S. Next they'll be swinging on vines and eating bananas, or using small sticks to eat the ants out of their hills. One can only hope they slip on so many banana peels. Eventually they do. It is never pretty.

The Public Trust ?

Yes, it's barely June and we are already hearing the sounds of elections heading our way. Of particular note is the filling of the State Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Joan Menard as she readies herself for life after being a leading member of the City's legislative delegation. Rumors abound that she is eyeing a role at the new UMass/Dartmouth Law School or as one of the members of the proposed state casino gambling Board of Directors, if you will, assuming the legislature approves casino gambling this session.

Three local individuals  running to fill the soon-to-be empty seat are of particular importance to the Fall River community, as well as the region as a whole. One is long time state representative Mike Rodrigues, he of the NH booze buying excursion  after voting to increase the state sales tax and  also seen by the Boston press as having a possible key role in ex-House Speaker Sal DiMazi's failed attempt to legalized ticket scalping by large ticket outlets, an effort that helped bring down DiMazi and made DiMazi a target in the fed's cross hairs.
 The next is Mike Coogan, a Lt. in the Fall River Fire Department with 21 years of service, on the board of directors of several Fall River financial and public interest organizations, and voted by members to head the Fall River Firefighters Union, the Fall River Employee Group Health Insurance Committee and the Fall River Retirement Board. Mr. Coogan is also a veteran.
The third candidate on the Democratic side of special interest to Fall River voters in this upcoming election to fill the seat left by Sen. Menard is former Mayor John Mitchell. Mayor Mitchell served one term as Mayor of Fall River, then ran in a primary race for a seat in the federal legislature as a member of the House of Representatives. But just as suddenly as he was in the race, he dropped out.

Concerned citizens have brought to my attention a disturbing document that might very well explain the reason for Mayor Mitchell's dropping out of the House of Representative's race. The document in question can be found at the following web address:

http://www.archive.org/stream/reportofattorney1996mass/reportofattorney1996mass_djvu.txt


There was this entry as cited by the Public Integrity Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office in their ANNUAL REPORT FOR FY 1996:

" The former Mayor of Fall River also entered into a disposition agreement in which he forfeited approximately $25,000 to the citizens of Fall River and the Commonwealth. In addition, the former Mayor acknowledged his committee's role in maintaining unreported cash contributions. Moreover, the former Mayor admitted to using some of the unreported cash to pay off debts of a former political opponent in exchange for that opponent's political support. "

Further examination of the disposition of the actual case shows the following:

# 128

6/96

JOHN R. MITCHELL

Civil disposition agreement

Candidate acknowledged responsibility

$17,500 fine

$7,500 restitution

6/96

MARILYN M. RODERICK

Civil disposition agreement

Candidate acknowledged responsibility

$5,000 fine

6/96
JOHN E. CLECKLEY
Defendant found guilty
Sentenced to two years House of Correction
Restitution to be determined

6/96
MICHAEL PISCIONE
Defendant found not guilty

6/96
MANUEL LOPES
Defendant found not guilty

6/96
BRIAN ARTHUR
Defendant pled guilty
Suspended sentence
$5,000 restitution
100 hours community service

Since we know that Ms. Rodericks once ran for Mayor against eventual winner Mitchell we can safely assume that she was the candidate who exchanged dropping out of the race for cash from the Mitchell campaign to payoff debts for what we are told was for a failed restaurant venture. Until recently, the $25.000 fine was the highest ever recorded against a public official in Massachusetts. It still ranks as #2.

Presumably this information coming to light, or the court case pending about this incident , or even just the start of the investigation into these matters was sufficient to make Mayor Mitchell drop out of the House of Representatives race. It's not like he challenged the existence of the quid pro quo scheme, in fact, he acknowledged it before the court, if my understanding of  the term "Candidate acknowledged responsibility" is correct.

My question to Fall River voters is this -  given that this disgrace happened, how can anyone support Mitchell running for public office again? He committed the act, and he does not deny it. If so, why should anyone vote for this man? Are you kidding me? Redemption is something we all are eligible for if the need arises. But to ask Fall River's voters and the voters of the Senate district he wishes to represent to blithely accept his candidacy is entirely another matter.

I personally can not sanction it. It would be like co-signing his B.S. Fall River voters have far too long a history of forgiving scoundrels just because they know the person or someone related to that person. The situation the City currently finds itself in is the result of such damaging choices.

Looking into my crystal ball.........

Posted by WBZ, Channel 4, Boston: Sunday, 06 June 2010 2:48PM

Public hearings this week on casino gambling in MA

Boston (AP) -- Backers and foes of casino gambling will get their chance to weigh in at a public hearing at the Statehouse this week.
The Massachusetts Senate has scheduled a 1 p.m. hearing on Tuesday on a plan to allow the state to license three resort-style casinos while keeping a ban on slot machines at the state's four racetracks.
Two of the casino licenses would be competitively bid. The third would go to a qualified Indian tribe.
The Senate plan differs from a House plan to license two casinos and allow 750 slot machines at each of the state's four race tracks.
Senate President Therese Murray has said the details of the Senate bill are still in flux and a final version won't be released until after the hearing.
Critics say casinos bring hidden social and economic costs.


This is what I think will happen...not what I necessarily want to happen, mind you....but what I am fairly certain will happen.


* A bill will be passed very soon...it will be signed by Governor Patrick, who will easily win reelection.


 -  Sen. Menard is angling for a job on the Board to be created to site the new casinos and then oversee their operations. She will earn at least $150,000 per year. It was no accident that she placed an Indian casino into the draft of this Senate bill.


 -  Other's that know me understand that from the beginning I stated that there would be three locations for casinos and several for slots at racetracks. I believe the third casino was specifically placed into the bill  not just for Fall River and the Womapnoag's but as a negotiating ploy by the Senate. Once passed by the Senate, a conference committee between the Senate and the House will allow for negotiations for House support for the Indian casnio location in exchange for limited Racino development , not currently included in the Senate bill, to appease House Speaker DeLeo who desperately wants slot machines at Suffolk Downs and a destination where one of the three casinos will be placed. The third casino will most likely be placed near Palmer MA, right off of the MASS PIKE and roughly in between both Worcester and Springfield, making a casino in MA easily accessible for western NY and all of western MA within a 1 1/2 hour drive at the furthest point. Most importantly, most folks in Palmer are in favor of the casino being placed there. It is this location that will pose the greatest threat to the CONN. casino's


 -  The issue of obtaining approval of the state legislature to take the Bio-park land and use it for casino purposes will be fairly easily handled by placing appropriate language in the casino bill. I'm certain that, if allowed by the state constitution, this will happen, and happen quickly, as if there were never a prohibition against other use.


 -  In the end, I believe this will happen, and that the odds favor Fall River keeping the Bio-park because of the poor economic straits Fall River finds itself upon. In reality it is far more like trying to navigate on a set of wild rapids on the Columbia River.


 -  The first shovel will hit the dirt in 6 to 12 months after passage. Why? The state needs the revenues NOW to run the state and to provide Local Aid. It cannot, and will not, wait for casino gambling.


 -  New Bedford will see a huge influx of money for jobs due to expansion of MBTA service and commuter rail. That's also why I think a casino will be sited here in Fall River because expansion of commuter rail from New Bedford to Fall River, which will be turned into some form of high speed commuter rail in the future, is a natural development. The creation and expansion  of reliable high speed rail transportation is one of Pres. Obama's energy and green platforms now taking precedent due to the disaster in the gulf with BP. Such a program, which is sorely needed, would be the equivalent of the Interstate Highway construction program of the 50's and 60's, producing millions of construction jobs. It is federal funding that will present the funds for expansion of commuter rail to the SouthCoast. Pres. Obama will not forget his friend Gov. Patrick.


In the end the state's need for revenues and more jobs will outpace all other considerations on the state and local levels. It seems, as always, that when money is tight across the board every decision and consideration turns from what's fair and appropriate to what is financially necessary. It's all about the dollar bill. Here's to hoping this grand plan works and that jobs are found so that we might return to quality of life issues in addition to how are we going to pay for it all!

FY11 Fall River Operating Budget?

Today's Fall River Herald News (HN) ran an article about the Mayor's proposed FY2011 budget that raises more questions than it answers. I think this may be a product of  who is giving out the information and who they are giving it to.

In typical HN form the article is a mish mash of revenue source numbers and appropriation figures that  fit about as well as a 10,000 piece jig-saw puzzle, and they make just as much sense. There is no way to really tell what this administration is planning, or how responsible and realistic this budget is in meeting community needs next fiscal year, nor is it possible to gain insight into future planning by this administration on the basis of the numbers discussed in the HN. This presentation of the FY11 budget is in no way a credible and comprehensive picture of the City's looming financial situation.

For example, it's the future inability of the City to meet it's fixed cost items, like Debt Service, Health Insurance, and Retirement that will dictate how successful the City will be in balancing next fiscal years, and all future fiscal year's budgets. But the article never mentions these items. That begs questions like, "Have the unions backed potentially going to the GIC Health Insurance alternative?", "Is the City prepared to tackle the issue of  Retiree Health Insurance future liability?", "When will we begin to meet our Unfunded Pension Liability obligations if we keep putting off payment due to budget needs?" , and " We're building new schools, and paying for ones already built, what does the Debt Service Schedule tell us about how much debt has been payed off and can we afford even the small portion we have to pay after the state portion of the debt is paid?"

These are very critical questions because our obligations in the near future are having an impact, as they always do, on the current year's budget proposal! So a full presentation and discussion of these items are of crucial importance.

Don't expect the HN to ask those questions. The HN reporters merely report, they do not investigate. And they do not fully comprehend the budget or the budget process.
It is all really kept in Medieval silence until it is sprung upon people by the June 1 deadline. The City Council never receives it in time for meaningful research on the major cost items like Health Insurance or Retirement. This attempt by the Mayor to have a public forum on the budget is not to get information or gain insight on it's budget - that proposed budget will NOT change no matter what information is presented at the public forum. Rather, the forum is a "binky" of sorts, meant to allow the more boisterous among the concerned public a chance to vent and babble and then , in all honesty, just go away, as far as the Mayor's office is concerned, all protestations by the Mayor aside. By dint of office, every act by the Mayor is a calculated one, a political one. At this point they don't want any real input by the citizens - it would just slow their process, their timetable.

I would actually like to see their revenue estimates first, a true full discussion of sources, continuing and new, and any changes from the prior year and why. This is critical, as opposed  to expense items, because under MA law, you can only spend what you can raise in revenues. Everything depends on the revenue bottom line.

From the revenue bottom line you would begin to offset by the amount of known fixed cost items. These would be broken down in detail, like how many enrollees, by department, have what kind of health plan and what the associated plan cost is that the City would pay, totaled, to render a group insurance fixed cost. With all the fixed cost items the devil is in the details and the details must be published.

After all these fixed costs are determined, the difference between the revenue bottom line and fixed costs is what you have left to spend on the day-to-day operating budget. There is no other way to do this budget process. I'm sure the Finance Director has done this.

There is NO WAY Mr. Cadime had a meaningful role to play in constructing this budget. He simply hasn't been working as City Administrator for a long enough period of time. This go around, he is merely a mouthpiece for the Mayor. I'm sure the Mayor wants Cadime to be the public face of the budget to present a budget the Mayor thinks  is good work. It may be more of a calculation than this Mayor wants to make. If the budget is flawed in a serious manner, Cadime's reputation will be ruined and his ability to perform as City Administrator will suffer greatly.

Given a lack of detail to examine for a day or two, no one, even those with a background in budgeting, could tell you definitively one way or the other whether this submitted appropriation request is comprehensive and solid. it's simply impossible. But we do know that several important questions loom that will dictate the efficacy of this budget.
These revolve primarily around the role of the employee unions, the firefighters in particular, and whether they will take the 8% pay cuts other unions have accepted in the past, and which the Mayor expects them all to take for at least another year. This is a huge assumption. It is the cornerstone of the Mayor's entire budget being balanced. One has to wonder aloud if the Mayor has obtained the agreement of the Police and Fire unions on this matter, and whether the School Committee, which the Mayor chairs, has likewise done with Teachers and School Administrator's bargaining units. It would not surprise me if this was already settled behind the scenes. But it would also not surprise me if he did not do so.

The presentation of this now UNBALANCED budget in the public manner used does several things. First, it serves notice now that all taxes and fees will be going up  and will be maximized where ever possible. Stating that fact often over the course of the next couple of months will serve to reduce the public psychological impact when the boom if lowered.
Second, it serves as a way to paint the unions as the bad guys if they don't agree with further pay cuts. It's a statement that the budget is balanced as long as THOSE GUYS do what I think should be done. Once again, no matter who the Mayor is, he hopes to balance the budget on the backs of the City's employees. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Finally, this Mayor getting his budget message out in the friendly HN, using confusing and disparate categories of revenue source increases and appropriation requests does precisely what the  administration wants most at the present - muddy the waters with good, if not true, news, and keep the people from asking for and examining the details. It also sets in motion  the public sentiment to support the Mayor's request ad at the same time puts pressure on the City Council and Unions to go along with it.

Based on what this administration has done with City finances so far, I do not have great hopes that this budget is balanced and that we will not be putting out several fires in the coming months based on deficits in various accounts, and actual FY10 operating deficits being carried very quietly on the Cherry Sheet Charges section of the FY 11 Tax Rate Recapitulatulation  Sheet. We already know they plan to do this with sewer deficit carry forwards. They may also have to do this for Police overtime. The public has a right to know why these deficits occurred and how they will be prevented in the future. That discussion should be presented and had in public.

So, what do we have on our hands so far? The Mayor has submitted a budget that is not balanced due to assumptions about union salary figures and the 8% cut carry-forward and no discussion of any meaningful details within the Fixed Cost categories. The budget was published in the Mayor friendly HN, and reads like an announcement of a new family cruise to Disney World. What else could we expect in Fall River.

Let's see what the public forum brings forth.

Tempus Fugit

I grow increasingly troubled by the lack of mention of the Fall River FY11 Operating Budget by anyone connected to leadership in this City's government. In Fact, I'm beginning to worry quite a lot.


Everything else is a sideshow compared to the immediate year's, and following year's operating budgets. The Destination Casino, the Bio-Tech Park, the minor league basketball team, improvement and development of the waterfront, the opening of the Quequechan River, the completion of a bridge across the Taunton River that should have been completed 10 years ago - all of these projects will mean absolutely, positively nothing if this and next years operating budgets cannot be balanced in a way that does not entail massive public employee layoffs which everyone involved in the budget process, including  the citizens and taxpayers of the City, wishes to avoid. Yet there is virtually total silence coming from City Hall.


Worse still is the latest. A request by Public Works head Pacheco to take out short term loans to replenish operating budget line items denuded by flood damage a few weeks back is extremely dangerous if it entails carrying outstanding short term debt on the City's June 30, 2010 Balance Sheet. This would have two immediate impacts:
1) The amount of any unpaid short term debt due in FY11 would immediately lower any possible Free Cash totals available to the City on a dollar for dollar basis. In other words, there would be less free cash available to put together a stabilization fund appropriation or to plug known budget shortages to avoid layoffs. The former impact is appropriate, the latter not-so-much, in terms of public finance, yet most likely needed to avoid the full impact of reduced public service across the board given our increasing  scenario of financial armageddon during FY11. And,
2) Unpaid short term borrowing carried over from one fiscal year into the next will immediately lower Fall River's already suspect credit worthiness, increasing greatly the cost of borrowing short term for all purposes and pushing us once again more steadily towards that nasty neighborhood known as a  DOR Revenue Control Board.


I don't know about you, but I've been to Lawrence, and no matter how bad things ever get in fall River, you don't EVER want to be in the same boat as Lawrence. And due to all kinds of employee overtime being spent unchecked in that City by it's government after being warned to control it's spending, word is that DOR control of every penny spent in that City may finally be put in place. That City will probably NOT be able to repay it's long term debt owed the state that was needed to make ends meet this year. It's simply not possible to see a huge difference between the two City's any longer.


If such proposed short term debt is due and paid prior to June 30, then the previous two arguments are void. However, what scares me most is that we could be seeing a purposeful overspending of budgeted line items. There may be no budgeted authority left in some DPW line items as I write this. We have no way of knowing because I have no recollection of such budget reviews taking place on a regular basis in public, or any indication that anyone actually cares. Has anyone out there heard such a question being asked of Mr. Pacheco by a member of the City Council prior to the floods? I don't. If I'm incorrect, please let me know.


No, City officials and the legislative delegation find it more worthwhile to spend time supporting the Grossman for State Treasurer campaign. Steve Grossman owns Mass Envelope, a company that for years did enormous business with state government for paper products of all types. This is not an aspersion against the man at all. he also does great business outside of MA as well. Steve Grossman is a financial thoroughbred, and would make a great choice as State Treasurer. He also has the political portfolio as well having been campaign treasurer for many races and Democratic Party politicians. He knows all the right people and has worked hard to see them be successful. He is a nationwide , first class fund raiser.


Do I think the local coterie of public officials made the right choice to back Steve Grossman? Yes, I do. If there is anyone to guarantee that casino gambling proceeds will be distributed efficiently and funds invested appropriately it's a man like Steve Grossman. Do I think I'd like to see all the same people at the announcement teaming up the same way, at the same time, right now in May, banding together to work hard on this FY11 budget? Absolutely, because all these other projects have people or appointed bodies to deliver the goods. If they are incapable of doing so, then it's high time some changes are made, and the public would support that. For some involved in these many projects, I'm afraid it's fish or cut bait time.


The FY 11 and FY 12 budget to follow requires the time and effort of the City Councilors AND the Mayor and his immediate brain trust. Will Flanagan cannot give the impression of sitting by,  like his predecessor, when Correia was pulling every string behind the scenes then announcing things like "Hey, that's why I have staff, to do those things for me".  No, this is Mayor Flanagan's first municipal operating budget for Fall River. Regardless of what good or bad things are contained there in , they are HIS good or bad things, not some new City Administrator who did a terrible job with School Committee budget submissions and reviews, nor can he blame the City's Finance Director. There will be no more free passes Mr. Mayor. The honeymoon is long over. That FY11 budget is YOURS. Your name will be plastered on every page even if it doesn't literally say so.


So while we are all caught up with the numerous red herrings trotted out before the taxpayers of Fall River just before budget time and election time, even those that may happen, we have to be most mindful of today, and the unavoidable freight train of financial reality that lurks behind that tiny pin-prick of light heading for us at the end of the dark tunnel we peer into. The train is coming faster everyday. June 30 is nearly upon us, yet the silence is so very deafening. Yelling and screaming about casino's and Bio-Parks won't pay for police and fire and teachers next July or September yet we'll most likely still be yelling aloud about casino's and Bio-Parks then too.


Time to reduce the quacking level and put a pair of noise-cancelling headphones so we can hear the financial fires raging. It's time for our elected officials to open the public discussion of the FY11 operating budget. Tempus Fugit.

It's simple because it's complicated

Such a headache I have today.

All I had to do was read the article in the Fall River Herald News today and felt somewhat prescient for my comments yesterday:

" For a Massachusetts community where, truth be told, little of note happens other than the occasional drug related shooting, this is big news. Something to get fired up about. Something where the dormant yet always near the surface bellicose nature of politics springs to life like the sharpest of cactus plants suddenly blooming in the middle of a lush green spring meadow, right down near the pond. In other words, it cannot be avoided and will most definitely sting the most careful of persons. It is what Fall River says it hates, but loves in a twisted manner as if such hate is it's reason for existing. "

Well, the confusing Fall River love affair with political bellicosity is reflected in the article and related comments covering the resolution by 4 of the City's 9 City Council members against the proposed displacement of the Bio-Tech Park by a destination casino .

First, to attempt to fully understand the ins and outs of this political cauldron is unwise at this point. Every position, every comment,  every vote and assertion being made by City, State, and yes, even Business officials connected to both of these projects reflects specific narrow objectives. Everything has meanings within meanings. Nothing is straight forward. Most of the comments and sentiments true meanings may never come to the naked light of day. It's just too early in this passion play to understand  who really is controlling things and why.

Maybe it's wise to take a big step back and look at the total picture , otherwise we will, as they say, miss the forest for the trees.

First, let's help analyze the current Fall River situation and look at the facts. We have a first year mayor who inherited a financial and administrative nightmare, the extent of which was hidden from the City by a group of insiders loyal to the previous mayor. This mayor made promises which, for whatever reasons, did not pan out, placing him immediately in the cross hairs of many who supported his candidacy. Up to now he has had a fractious relationship with the City Council. The primary bright light for this Mayor is the effective use of a new Police Chief to attack growing street crime at the cost of a burgeoning overtime budget account which the City, in all likelihood, cannot afford. Gang related violent crime and drug sales continue with little abatement.

The Fall River Office of Economic Development (FROED) has had few successes in the last few years. Just prior to the destination casino, the latest FROED discussion was aimed at the "parking near the New Courthouse" situation, with little regard given anyone in Fall River where adequate parking down town is concerned. It was a problem, like all recent failures related to FROED , that was laid at the feet of FROED's Executive Vice President and Fall River favorite son, Kenneth Fiola. FROED was also the biggest proponent of the Bio-Tech Park concept with Mr. Fiola having a role with both FROED and the Fall River Redevelopment Authority(RA), the body responsible for purchasing the 300 acre parcel of land for the Bio-Park from the state.

Of the greatest factors of concern to all citizens of Fall River are these unavoidable and undeniable FACTS -

* The City of Fall River faces the greatest financial hurdle in it's history to be presented in it's FY11 Operating Budget. Each year simple arithmetic shows how the gap between expenses needed to "turn the key and open City Hall for business" and the revenues needed to make that happen will grow much wider year after year for the foreseeable future. The issue is how will it be possible to balance this and future budgets even with cuts in manpower and services? The City teeters on financial insolvency, just like the City of Lawrence, yet another once proud mill town reduced to a haven of gangs and the violent crime and drug life they bring with them.
* The City of Fall River Schools are under state review for having vastly under-performing schools in comparison to statewide averages. The City ranks as third worst in the state for number of schools in dire condition of education performance as measured by standardized tests and student comprehension, with 3 listed, and only Boston and Springfield, much larger City's, in worse shape.
* The City of Fall River has the highest Unemployment Rate in the state, just over 18%, with over 50% of it's workforce from 18-65 without a high school diploma or GED. In short, the potential workforce is predominantly unskilled, uneducated and under and unemployed.
If every resource was made available today for the schools to educate and the students to learn well, it would take a couple of generations of students to pass through the school system to produce an educated and well trained workforce. Fall River is many years from being at that point.

All comments by Fall River supporters to the contrary these are hard facts. You cannot have any analysis of possible motivations by political actors to make the choices they make without first knowing the facts at hand. The political actors themselves operate under no illusions of what the facts are, and what they mean.

So, at this point, I will attempt to analyze the actions and statements we have seen so far as they relate to a "destination casino" and the Bio-Tech Park.

It looks like Mayor Flanagan and FROED saw it mutually advantageous to join forces to both solve an immediate crucial problem that directly touches most residents of the City (employment for it's largely uneducated and unskilled labor force, revenues to help fund City budget gaps) and one that also would raise goodwill both parties have with Fall River residents. In short, it's a shot to solve two of the City's worst problems and look good doing it at the same time. That's plenty of motivation to attempt the risk of moving the Bio-Park and proceed down the path towards a destination casino.  All protestations otherwise, UMass will fuss about it and the state will threaten to make the Wompanoags and Malaysians who back this casino financially with having to pay for the Rt. 24 cutoff and infrastructure improvements, but it was not originally state money in reality, it was stimulus funding that paid for much of the highway project. With a great likelihood that Deval Patrick will win another term as Governor, as long as the Fall River voters approve his re-election the Mayor will have little problem with the changes he seeks to the authorizing legislation placing restrictions of the 300 acre parcel. And the local legislative delegation's protests to the contray, with one GLARING exception, will eventually go along with the change as well.
At this point most politicians want to withhold immediate support for the project on the basis of appearances. They want to look responsible and concerned and will call for more time to 'look at the possible options". In fact, this posturing allows them to maintain a safe, hold blameless position in case the deal goes south, and someone else to blame if the Bio-Tech park is sited out of Fall River.  It's also a way to send a not very subtle signal to the financial interests backing this casino project exactly who needs to be wooed, if you will, in order to gain full support and votes for approval. What's that old saying about, "now that we know what you are, we're merely haggling over price"?
There is one state representative holding a strong position against the destination casino and to stay with the original Bio-Tech Park project. He is Rep. Rodrigues.  It may be the fact that he is backed by the MA Bio-Tech Council and head of the House committee that deals with Bio-Tech issues that keeps him solidly against the destination casino. In public sector parlance that is known as being "captured" by the people you regulate or have oversight responsibility for. This capturing is a function of needing information about what the business will do, through lobbyists, rather then trying to have staff learn what usually is very technical data and highly specialized information. That and spending a lot of time with representatives of the industry involved so you can learn what they do, who they are, and what they need from you and your committee to thrive as an industry, as well as what they can do for the commonwealth and constituents of your district.
In this case, Rep. Rodrigues is also recipient of tens of thousands of dollars from the industry itself in the form of campaign contributions. This is plainly put. I leave it up to the reader to determine if this is a "quid pro quo" arrangement, given that Rep. Rodrigues seeks to run for outgoing Sen. Menard's district seat in the Senate. Given the great costs of political campaigns these days, even State senate races have to come under deep scrutiny to see whose is truly a grass roots campaign and whose is a creature of machine politics and larger financial interests different from that district's constituents.

All sides, institutions, political actors and businesses are posturing right now. The knowledgeable folks in Fall River understand this. There will be more days than fewer in the next few months where rhetoric of the type covered in the HN article and comments section is the rule, not the exception. No one, not the Mayor, not FROED, not UMass nor the MA Bio-Tech Council know how this will all work out. But for trying to do something that will cure what ails Fall River's immediate situation, the joint cooperation between FROED, Mayor Flanagan and the developers of the destination casino draw first blood in this fight.

In any event "it ain't over till it's over". There is nothing that prevents the City from completing both projects. If the Bio-Tech Park falls through, it will be the decision of  UMass to  withdraw that will decide this issue once and for all. The City will never officially abandon that project. The details will have to be worked out.

Stay tuned.

"We're on a mission from Gahhd"

Here we are once again facing an apparent dilemma with sides chosen, changed positions, hard feelings and charges of skulduggery not unproven by what amounts to a simple cursory glance of the facts. Welcome to Fall River!

If a stranger knew nothing about this City other than it was the place where Lizzie Borden took the axe to mom and pops, it could see the essential Fall River in the controversy, just starting I might add, over the building of a "destination casino" on a tract of land currently restricted in use by contractual agreement with the state.

It has all the hallmarks of a real Fall River hum dinger. Divided loyalties among the City's people, charges of a lack of transparency by those who use a lack of transparency to their own purpose on other issues, tons of money coming into the City now or about to be to bolster opposing viewpoints, and a legislative delegation who see the same facts and envision vastly different needs and solutions. Ordinarily most outside observers would think this situation a real mess.

They would be wrong, of course. In Fall River, this is where the rubber meets the road. The fight over the casino and related uncertain fate of the Bio-Tech Park, which the casino, if approved in the end, would dispossess from it's site, is what gets the life juices of this City flowing.

For a Massachusetts community where, truth be told, little of  note happens other than the occasional drug related shooting, this is big news. Something to get fired up about. Something where the dormant yet always near the surface bellicose nature of politics springs to life like the sharpest of cactus plants suddenly blooming in the middle of a lush green spring meadow, right down near the pond. In other words, it cannot be avoided and will most definitely sting the most careful of persons. It is what Fall River says it hates, but loves in a twisted manner as if such hate is it's reason for existing.

Yes it's slightly perverse. That is because the City lacks any sort of worldly outlook. It eschews universality the way old fashioned still owners protected themselves from the "Revenue-ers" in the Ozark Mountains. It's entirely parochial in the way it sees the outside world. It's very simple, really. It is a world of "them" and "US", them being the world which is virtually any measurable distance just outside the City lines. It seems like it's always been this way. When you consider the advent of instantaneous communication available virtually anywhere on earth, the insular nature of Fall River stands as mystifying. It's not as if the outside world doesn't reach into the City - the City rejects it out of hand! 

It is this fact that has to be understood to fully realize why such possible good news for a community with the highest unemployment rate in the state, and also one of highest rates of drop outs and adult working populations, over 50%,  without high school diplomas or GED's, would question the bounty of an outside entity bringing them 3 - 5,000 jobs. The casino would also bring revenues to fund Fall River budget gaps to save public safety and school teacher jobs and bring the outside world to this floundering City.

Questions? They abound on every side of this issue.

     *Should we chose between one project over the other  (Casino vs. Bio-
      Park) or could we do both projects? Yes, I think we could accommodate both
        and we should. It appears one project would suit current education and training
        levels of the current population and deliver greatly needed jobs (Casino)while the
        other  (Bio-Tech) seems to be the real future of the City.

     *How many jobs will be produced by both projects?  Early estimates from
         proponents of the casino indicate 3-5,000 jobs from the casino, mostly
         manual labor-service/entry level jobs - original estimates for the Bio-Tech park
         were any figure from a low of 12  at original start up to a fully developed
         Industrial Park type complex that COULD hold as high as 12,000 fairly
         technical jobs available for those with appropriate training and education
         although most observers doubt the 12, 000 job figure. Something in the
         in the 2,000 range might be more realistic, but no one really knows, other than
         this could be a real long-term employer and industry for Fall River's future.

     *Where do the elected officials and political power entities stand on these
        proposals? To understand this you need both a scorecard and one of those
        tracking devices they put in cars to figure out where the car has been. Outgoing
        Senator Menard and Mayor Flanagan are in favor of both projects, trying to
        build the casino first due to immediate job needs, while one of the state
        representatives looking to win Menard's Senate seat wants a strong commitment
        to a Bio-Tech Park on the original location. Those are the two popular extremes.
        From what I can gather all other elected officials have taken a cautionary and
        semi-objective position which means in the end they'll support the option which
        gains them the most votes. It seems that rather than contribute to the building of 
        a consensus most of these officials wait for a popular consensus to build, then
        hop on board and adopt it as their own.
        In terms of institutions, FROED has flip flopped on this issue. Previously,
        FROED was a strong proponent of the Bio-Tech Park. Now they appear to be a
        co-sponsor with Mayor Flanagan of the destination casino on the spot that was
        originally purchased with a Bio-Tech park in mind. Mayor Flanagan had attacked
        FROED during his run for the Mayor's Office for lack of productivity and now
        seems to be partnering with FROED to see this casino project become reality.
        If there were any doubt about this all one had to do was see the photos of
        FROED's Executive Vice President Fiola with the Mayor's Chief of Staff Torres
        wearing sun glasses while visiting the site location for a photo op. They
        looked like the a poor man's version of the Blues Brothers, although they also
        appeared to be very pleased with being "on a mission from gahhd", to quote
        Elwood Blues.
    
     *Who appear to be the winners and losers? Quick listing here:
            Winners - Mayor Flanagan, FROED, Fall River workers, especially
            construction trades and those without HS diplomas, Senator Menard
            Malaysian developers, Wompanoag Nation, Fall River municipal employees
            citizens of Fall River.

            Losers - Rep. Rodrigues, Bio-Tech project, MA Bio-Tech Council, UMass,
            Green community, Satanists everywhere (Satanists are thought to perform
            occasional rituals in Freetown State Forest, part of the area taken by the
            casino), any member of the Fall River legislative delegation to vote against
            the casino project.
    
This is but the very beginning of what promises to be a convoluted soap opera in true Fall River fashion before it's all said and done. But we wouldn't have it any other way.

Please feel free to ask any questions you'd like, or gives us your opinions, after all, they will be no less valid than anything you read here. Thanks for dropping by!

Recklessly Stupid

Officials at the White House and Democratic Party offices in Connecticut are extremely worried this morning. It seems their candidate for the Senate in Connecticut, state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, hasn't been entirely honest about his military service record. This could come back to haunt both Blumenthal and the national Democratic Party in a big way.

He is still the favorite to win  the seat to replace retiring Senator Chris Dodd. But that could change as early as today as the story gains traction. His most likely Republican opponent in the race, Ms. Linda McMahon, the former chief executive of professional wrestling company World Wrestling Entertainment Inc., already has added a tint of the strange to the race given her colorful background appearing on numerous broadcasts of WWE televised events over a stretch of some 30 years. Imagine having a Senator with friends known as the late "Fabulous Moolah" or one time Minnesota Governor Jesse "The Body" Ventura, as he was known in his wrestling days. It is quite likely her talent for performing in out-sized fashion before millions of viewers will serve her will as she no doubt pounds Blumenthal for his stretching the truth about his military service at a time when terrorism is on every voters mind. This as she hasn't even won the Republican nomination to run against him. Her lead against her Republican party primary opponent is safe, however, so she can start pummeling Blumenthal now in what is sure to become a mantra like fashion.

Blumenthal exaggerated his military service consistently over much of his political career. He often alluded to his time "in Vietnam during that war", when in fact, he received 5 deferments, then served in the Marine reserves in Washington DC during the time war raged in Vietnam. It sounds disturbingly like the war time service of a certain President from Texas.

The question that I think needs to be asked is why would such an intelligent man continue this exaggeration of his war record in this day and age? Did he truly think this would escape the ever watchful eyes of the party he was running against, a party that prides itself on revealing such military service distortions and lies by their opposition to rile up their base, even in a northeast state like Connecticut? And more simply asked, "What was he thinking"?

It goes even deeper. What were his handlers thinking? Did they not have someone on their own side vet this candidate first to find out what secrets were hiding in Blumenthal's attic ? That is standard operating procedure for an office like US Senator. There obviously are more people involved in this distortion of Blumenthal's military record and because they also knew, that, if you will, is where the true crime lies.  It's also where the true anti-Blumenthal propaganda will most effectively come from. Nothing catches the imagination of leery people more than a wholly believable conspiracy theory.They have delivered themselves up on a platter. At this point it is only a question of how feeble the Republican party in Connecticut and Ms. McMahon's people are in making this blunder by Blumenthal stick through the final election. Personally I think such exhibited greedy stupidity on Blumenthal and his handlers part deserves the final fate of having Ms. McMahon stick a fork into his electoral carcass.

The lesson to be learned by all this? If you are running for any office in these days of blogs, Facebook, Twitter, You-Tube, picture and video taking cell phones and media networks stumbling over themselves for the latest juicy gossip, make sure your cupboard is clean and clear from wreckage of the past, or get out in front of it. Americans, no matter what state they inhabit, always treat such truth telling with great understanding and a warm and willing heart. WE are, by nature, a forgiving people and have a soft spot for personal bravery and redemption. However, by the same token, we detest blatant stupidity, especially of the greedy kind borne of personal gain. This, the stupidity, not the personal gain, is what we, as an American culture simply reject out of hand. We like a clever scoundrel, the more clever the better and almost allow thievery by such creative people as if it were earned under the guise of a warped "American Ingenuity". But blatant stupidity compounded by greed is an unforgivable American sin. It's time politicians learn this, or they will cease being active politicians very soon. There are no more secrets for politicians in this hyper media society.